The Group of Death is beginning to feel like the Group of Dead Rubber. Brazil have already been spared the guillotine and, with Portugal all but certain of survival, it is difficult to escape the sense that, when the two sides convene beside the Indian Ocean in Durban tomorrow a game that was billed as the most glamorous of the group stages has lost some of its stardust.

Brazil versus Portugal, in any circumstances, is going to be more than an average football match – "a football show," was the description applied by the Portuguese coach, Carlos Queiroz – but in this case both teams could be forgiven for basing their planning on the next stage of the competition. The only plausible debate is who wins Group G and the most interesting part of the pre-match managerial conferences had nothing to do with what could happen at the Moses Mabhida stadium but concerned Dunga issuing a public apology for calling a television reporter a "donkey" and a "wimp" after Brazil's 3-1 defeat of Ivory Coast.

Dunga, incensed by the red card which means Kaká will be suspended against the Portuguese, had taken exception to the journalist apparently pulling a face when the coach responded to questions about Luís Fabiano's handball goal by praising the forward's performance. As well as a flurry of expletives, Dunga confronted the journalist at the end of the conference. Fifa had looked into whether it merited opening a disciplinary case before concluding that no action should be taken.

"I would like to apologise to the Brazilian fans," Dunga said. "Like all Brazilians, all I want to do is win. I want the bestfor the Brazilian team and I apologise for any expression that I might have made that was inappropriate. I know I was wrong."

The manager's relationship with the Brazilian media has been fraught during this tournament, with several media blackouts imposed, but the mood on this occasion was forgiving. Dunga's father, Edelceu, is seriously ill in Brazil with Alzheimer's disease and the coach spoke of the strain he was under. "He has been ill for some time and this is an opportunity for me to show the qualities he passed to me," he said. "I have to be coherent, strong, dignified and transparent and I have to apologise when I make mistakes."

Returning to football matters, Dunga acknowledged that Brazil's immaculate start to the competition – they are top of the group and have already guaranteed their progress into the last 16 – meant this was a game where he could feasibly rest players. Similar questions were put to Queiroz, most notably whether he would take a calculated gamble and omit Cristiano Ronaldo on the basis that another yellow card would rule him out of their first knockout game.

Queiroz's response suggested he would not count his chickens even if he were to get a job on an egg farm. The objective, he said, was to guarantee their passage into the last 16 and he pointed out that, as yet, they were not arithmetically certain, even if the sums were that it would need a nine-goal turnaround for Ivory Coast to clamber above them.

To put it into context, Portugal have conceded only two goals in their last 13 games. They did sieve six against Brazil in one of Queiroz's first games, in November 2008, but Sir Alex Ferguson's former assistant at Manchester United has turned them into a much more difficult side to break down.

"We've played 25 games since then and in 21 there have been no goals scored against us," he said. "That is a record we can all be proud of. We had a bad time in that game against Brazil but the rapport between the players and management is totally different now. Back then we had only 10 days of training together whereas our defensive record now is one that shows great consistency."

The inference from Queiroz was that Ronaldo would play, although it would not be a complete surprise if Portugal, like Brazil, make a number of changes. Their outstanding player so far has not been Ronaldo but their left-back, Fábio Coentrão, who is being linked in the Portuguese media with a move to Chelsea (should Ashley Cole go to Real Madrid), and the 22-year-old from Benfica is among those Queiroz is said to be considering leaving out. Two other Portugal players, Pedro Mendes and Hugo Almeida, are one booking away from being suspended, as is Ramires of Brazil.